The investment bank Moelis & Co, founded by billionaire Ken Moelis, has launched a division focused on global deals involving cryptocurrency startups, Bloomberg reports.<\/p>\n
Its head is John Momtazi, co-founder and head of the media investment banking unit at the New York institution. The senior adviser role went to Lou Kerner, a partner at venture firm CryptoOracle.<\/p>\n
Moelis & Co is betting that companies will continue to grow and close larger deals. In Momtazi’s view, this was the case in the period after the dot-com bust.<\/p>\n
\n\u00abWe like the timing. Any breakthrough technology is volatile. The size <\/em>M&A-\u0441\u0434\u0435\u043b\u043e\u043a<\/em><\/a> will be strongly correlated with the expansion of market capitalization\u00bb,<\/em> \u2014 he explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Moelis & Co currently represents Voyager Digital in the bankruptcy proceedings. The firm\u2019s lawyers \u043e\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0433\u043b\u0438<\/a> a recent proposal from FTX addressed to the crypto broker’s clients. Earlier, the investment bank worked with Ripple Labs and CipherTrace.<\/p>\n
The firm has invested in the industry through funds Blockchain Capital, Blockchain Coinvestors and Pantera Capital, and Moelis himself participated in a Paxos funding round. According to Momtazi, direct investments are not ruled out in the future.<\/p>\n
In July, Lightspeed Venture Partners formed the Lightspeed Faction team focused on the crypto industry.<\/p>\n